


Bubblegum pink

by FloreatCastellum



Series: Slice of Life One-Shots [24]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Teddy meets Tonks' old coworkers, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-19
Updated: 2019-05-19
Packaged: 2020-03-08 04:59:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,080
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18887659
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FloreatCastellum/pseuds/FloreatCastellum
Summary: I was given the prompt: How do you think Tonks’ auror friends would react to seeing Harry with Teddy in the auror office?





	Bubblegum pink

He hurried through the cubicles, peering in each one with determination, chewing on his bottom lip. 

He saw some black hair, and was about to call his godfather’s name, but the man, sensing there was someone behind him, turned. It was not Harry. ‘Erm… There’s a kid in the office,’ he called loudly. 'Who’s kid is this? Who does he belong to?' 

Teddy walked away. Heads popped up and out of the cubicles around him. He was not a shy boy, but unless any of them were Harry he really didn’t have the time. 

'Are you all right, kid?’ asked one of them. 

'Yeah.' 

The man raised an eyebrow. 'Just started, have you? One of our new recruits?' 

'No, I’m only nine.' 

'Oh, well yeah, if you’re not old enough to drink you can’t really work here, I suppose.’

'Oh, Teddy,’ said a one-armed witch, who had just appeared round the corner. Ted didn’t know how she knew who he was, but then he supposed there weren’t many little boys with bubblegum pink hair. 'You looking for Harry?' 

He nodded. 

'I’ll take him,’ said the man. 

'Would you? I would but I need to get down to the morgue - thanks, Proudfoot.' 

The witch left, and the man called Proudfoot stepped out of his cubicle. He was older than Harry, but younger than Nana, and one of his eyes was milky white. 'This way. I recognise you - you’re Teddy, aren’t you? Harry’s lad.’

'Yes, Teddy Lupin,’ he replied politely. 'Harry’s my godfather.' 

'Yes, that’s right, he’s spoken about you,’ said Proudfoot, leading him down the corridor. Teddy nodded again, and the man looked at him very strangely. 'I, er… I knew your mum.' 

Teddy’s head snapped up to look at him. 'Really?’

'Yeah, Tonks. She had hair just like yours. I thought you looked familiar.' 

'I’m only trying this colour out,’ said Teddy. 'I have it blue normally.’

'Oh, yes? Why the change?' 

Teddy shrugged. 'Dunno, just felt like it. How did you know my mum?' 

'Well, we worked together. She was an auror too.' 

'Oh, yes,’ said Teddy, who had known that really. 'I forgot. Was she a goo-’ He had been so fixated on the man’s face, that he had barged his shoulder into a trolley full of manilla files, and the shock of it sent him stumbling backwards onto his bum. 

'Whoops,’ said Proudfoot, holding out a hand to help him up. 'You all right?' 

'Yeah, I do that all the time,’ said Teddy brushing off his hands. When he looked back up, he was surprised to see that the man looked quite upset. 'Really,’ he told him, awkwardly noticing the man’s shining eyes. 'I’m all right.' 

'Good,’ said the man gruffly. 'Come on, this way… And as a matter of fact, yes, she was a very good auror. Being able to change her appearance like that, it meant she was great for undercover work. Always a good laugh too - people don’t realise that about aurors, but you’ve got to have a good sense of humour.' 

'Harry says to be a good auror you’ve got to take leave of your senses and really embrace being a total mess of a human.' 

Proudfoot chuckled darkly. 'Yeah, see what I mean? You’ve got to have a good sense of humour. Best quality a person can have, if you ask me, and your mum had it in buckets.' 

They reached a door, and Teddy stood up on his toes to read the little bronze plaque on the front. 

_H. Potter, Head Auror_

'I never would have found him here,’ said Teddy. 'I thought he’d be in one of them boxes.' 

'Oh no,’ chortled Proudfoot. 'The big cheeses get their own, much roomier, boxes.’ He rapped his knuckles on the door, and Teddy heard a low voice call for them to enter - it was certainly his godfather, but he sounded so different to normal. 

They entered, and Teddy saw Harry, looking very serious as he clacked away on a typewriter, glance up and do a double take. 'Ted! What are you doing here?' 

'Ginny says the baby is coming and you need to come home,’ Teddy said calmly. 'She sent me because she sent a message already and didn’t hear anything and you usually come running, she says-’

Teddy’s godfather said a bad word. This made Teddy grin, because over the years he’d found that the grown ups had often forgotten that he was little and sworn in front of him, and then they would apologise in a worried sort of way, and tell him it was because he always acted so grown up. But this time Harry did not apologise, he sprang up from his desk and lunged towards his cloak. As he did, he knocked into the edge of his desk, sending various frames clattering to the floor - at once, Teddy could see how some of the aurors had known who he was, and he was quietly delighted that Harry had a picture of him on his desk, just as he did with his real children. 

'It’s that rubbish new admin person, she’s got no sense of urgency when it comes to memos, what’s her name-’

'Joanna,’ said Proudfoot. 

'That’s it,’ muttered Harry, pulling his cloak on. 'The baby’s coming already? How long for, Ted?' 

'I dunno. A while,’ said Teddy. 'She keeps doing all these groany noises - the midwitch lady is there. They’re just getting me to look after James and Al.’ He stood a little taller. 'They said they trusted me to come here and get you though.' 

'Very good job,’ said Harry, clutching Ted’s shoulder. He looked at Proudfoot. 'Right, I’m back on paternity leave, can you discretely spread the word-’

'Sure. Congrats, boss.' 

'Thanks - right, come on, Ted, we can use my fireplace-’

'See you, Teddy,’ said Proudfoot, smiling down at him. 'It was nice meeting you.’

Though Harry was tugging on his arm, Teddy pulled back to look at Proudfoot. 'Can I come back?’ he asked. 'And hear about her as an auror?' 

Harry stopped pulling, and Proudfoot’s smile changed slightly. 'Course you can. Any time.' 

'Thank you for showing me where to go,’ said Ted. He looked back at Harry. 'You should probably get a move on, she’s getting a bit angry about it all.' 

'OK,’ said Harry hastily. 'Come on then - cheers, Proudfoot.' 

They stepped into the fireplace, Teddy watching the man wave at them before they vanished in a swirl of flames.


End file.
